girl power

courtesy of goawayparis.com
in a world of britney spears' and paris hilton's, it appears that young girls aspire for sexual provocativeness, rather than the intellectual kind. amelia hill of the observer, writes that "today's girls prefer to look sexy rather than be clever". citing numerous examples within popular culture, hill's argument rests upon the findings from a new book by carol platt liebau, prude: how the sex-obsessed culture damages girls, in which liebau says that " 'popular culture is undermining girls' sense of worth in their most vulnerable, formative years'" thereby destroying any remnants of a feminism. from scant pieces of clothing to audacious music videos, female sexuality is glorified and sensationalized. liebau's book attempts to put into perspective this hyper-sexualization of young girls, where she explains that " 'today there exists a status quo in which almost everything seems focused on what's going on 'below the waist'." this concept of exploiting female sexuality is not a new one, but perhaps this is the first time that girls themselves are willing participants. because of the glorification of female sexuality, young girls feel a sense of empowerment when they respond to and in turn become sex icons. in light of the alarming issues delineated in both hill's article and liebau's book, it appears that it is now paramount that we redirect young girls’ misguided concepts about sexuality and refocus their aspirations to become realized rather than sexualized.